Parenting is but a Chapter
It’s an ironic thing: I like to start new things. I have started so many new books, new methods, new systems; the list goes on and on. It’s embarrassing, really. The struggle for me is to continue in that new thing until completion. That’s not the ironic part. What’s ironic is that I am also an overthinker. I will want to think through items to figure things out to the point of not actually doing the something I am thinking about.
While confessing this might not be the best way to impress everyone in a new blog from the Principal at the start of a new school year, it brings me to a startling realization. There are specific chapters of parenting that have a definite end, whether you want to or not and whether you and they are prepared. While you will never stop being a parent, this current parenting stage will end. You have a finite amount of time until they graduate from Ridgeview and head off to college, trade school, the workforce, etc.
I do not always feel all the emotions in the moment when others do. I never know if I will feel the sadness of seeing my oldest graduate or when we drop him off at college. It hit me hard! When we pulled away as Carson walked back toward his dorm, it all hit me like a ton of bricks. I ugly cried a good 5 miles down the road.
As I had time to reflect, the emotion wasn’t really about the fact that he would be over an hour away. It wasn’t so much about missing him. I was struck by the finality of closing a significant chapter in our family’s life. Things will never be the same.
I have been stuck with questions swirling in my head since dropping him off about whether or not I prepared him enough for this situation or that circumstance. But God had to remind me that while we did coach him on some scenarios, our focus has been on his character and relationship with his Heavenly Father. We have to trust that the character God has developed in him and his relationship the Lord will help him to navigate the scenarios as they come.
Over the next few weeks, I will share some thoughts about utilizing this current chapter of your parenting life, no matter how many pages you are into it. I am no expert and definitely have so much still to learn and do differently this year as my next child enters her senior year, but I want to share some things I have observed over the years serving other families, and now have experienced with my own family.